What! you exclaim, can that be a question? Has any one ever asserted, or is it possible to maintain, that scarcity is at the foundation of human wellbeing?
Yes, this has been asserted, and is maintained every day; and I hesitate not to affirm that the theory of scarcity is much the most popular. It is the life of conversation, of the journals, of books, and of the tribune; and strange as it may seem, it is certain that Political Economy will have fulfilled its practical mission when it has established beyond question, and widely disseminated2, this very simple proposition: "The wealth of men consists in the abundance of commodities."
Do we not hear it said every day, "The foreigner is about to inundate3 us with his products?" Then we fear abundance.
Did not M. Saint Cricq exclaim, "Production is excessive?" Then he feared abundance.
Do workmen break machines? Then they fear excess of production, or abundance.
Has not M. Bugeaud pronounced these words, "Let bread be dear, and agriculturists will get rich?" Now, bread cannot be dear but because it is scarce. Therefore M. Bugeaud extols4 scarcity.
Does not M. d'Argout urge as an argument against sugar-growing the very productiveness of that industry? Does he not say, "Beetroot has no future, and its culture cannot be extended, because a few acres devoted5 to its culture in each department would supply the whole consumption of France?" Then, in his eyes, good lies in sterility6, in dearth7, and evil in fertility and abundance.
The Presse, the Commerce, and the greater part of the daily papers, have one or more articles every morning to demonstrate to the Chambers9 and the Government, that it is sound policy to raise legislatively11 the price of all things by means of tariffs12. And do the Chambers and the Government not obey the injunction? Now tariffs can raise prices only by diminishing the supply of commodities in the market! Then the journals, the Chambers, and the Minister, put in practice the theory of scarcity, and I am justified13 in saying that this theory is by far the most popular.
How does it happen that in the eyes of workmen, of publicists, and statesmen, abundance should appear a thing to be dreaded14, and scarcity advantageous15? I propose to trace this illusion to its source.
We remark that a man grows richer in proportion to the return yielded by his exertions16, that is to say, in proportion as he sells his commodity at a higher price. He sells at a higher price in proportion to the rarity, to the scarcity, of the article he produces. We conclude from this, that, as far as he is concerned at least, scarcity enriches him. Applying successively the same reasoning to all other producers, we construct the theory of scarcity. We next proceed to apply this theory, and, in order to favour producers generally, we raise prices artificially, and cause a scarcity of all commodities, by prohibition18, by restriction19, by the suppression of machinery20, and other analogous21 means.
The same thing holds of abundance. We observe that when a product is plentiful22, it sells at a lower price, and the producer gains less. If all producers are in the same situation, they are all poor. Therefore it is abundance that ruins society And as theories are soon reduced to practice, we see the law struggling against the abundance of commodities.
This sophism23 in its more general form may make little impression, but applied24 to a particular order of facts, to a certain branch of industry, to a given class, of producers, it is extremely specious25; and this is easily explained. It forms a syllogism26 which is not false, but incomplete. Now, what is true in a syllogism is always and necessarily present to the mind. But incompleteness is a negative quality, an absent datum27, which it is very possible, and indeed very easy, to leave out of account.
Man produces in order to consume. He is at once producer and consumer. The reasoning which I have just explained considers him only in the first of these points of view. Had the second been taken into account, it would have led to an opposite conclusion. In effect, may it not be said:—
The consumer is richer in proportion as he purchases all things cheaper; and he purchases things cheaper in proportion to their abundance; therefore it is abundance which enriches him. This reasoning, extended to all consumers, leads to the theory of plenty.
It is the notion of exchange imperfectly understood which leads to these illusions. If we consider our personal interest, we recognise distinctly that it is double. As sellers we have an interest in dearness, and consequently in scarcity; as buyers, in cheapness, or what amounts to the same thing, in the abundance of commodities. We cannot, then, found our reasoning on one or other of these interests before inquiring which of the two coincides and is identified with the general and permanent interest of mankind at large.
If man were a solitary28 animal, if he laboured exclusively for himself, if he consumed directly the fruit of his labour—in a word, if he did not exchange—the theory of scarcity would never have appeared in the world. It is too evident that, in that case, abundance would be advantageous, from whatever quarter it came, whether from the result of his industry, from ingenious tools, from powerful machinery of his invention, or whether due to the fertility of the soil, the liberality of nature, or even to a mysterious invasion of products brought by the waves and left by them upon the shore. No solitary man would ever have thought that in order to encourage his labour and render it more productive, it was necessary to break in pieces the instruments which saved it, to neutralize29 the fertility of the soil, or give back to the sea the good things it had brought to his door. He would perceive at once that labour is not an end, but a means; and that it would be absurd to reject the result for fear of doing injury to the means by which that result was accomplished30. He would perceive that if he devotes two hours a day to providing for his wants, any circumstance (machinery, fertility, gratuitous31 gift, no matter what) which saves him an hour of that labour, the result remaining the same, puts that hour at his disposal, and that he can devote it to increasing his enjoyments32; in short, he would see that to save labour is nothing else than progress.
But exchange disturbs our view of a truth so simple. In the social state, and with the separation of employments to which it leads, the production and consumption of a commodity are not mixed up and confounded in the same individual. Each man comes to see in his labour no longer a means but an end. In relation to each commodity, exchange creates two interests, that of the producer and that of the consumer; and these two interests are always directly opposed to each other.
Take the case of any producer whatever, what is his immediate34 interest? It consists of two things: 1st, that the fewest possible number of persons should devote themselves to his branch of industry; 2dly, that the greatest possible number of' persons should be in quest of the article he produces. Political economy explains it more succinctly35 in these terms, Supply very limited, demand very extended; or in other words still, Competition limited, demand unlimited36.
What is the immediate interest of the consumer? That the supply of the product in question should be extended, and the demand restrained.
Seeing, then, that these two interests are in opposition37 to each other, one of them must necessarily coincide with social interests in general, and the other be antagonistic38 to them.
But which of them should legislation favour, as identical with the public good—if, indeed, it should favour either?
To discover this, we must inquire what would happen if the secret wishes of men were granted.
In as far as we are producers, it must be allowed that the desire of every one of us is anti-social. Are we vine-dressers? It would give us no great regret if hail should shower down on all the vines in the world except our own: this is the theory of scarcity. Are we iron-masters? Our wish is, that there should be no other iron in the market but our own, however much the public may be in want of it; and for no other reason than that this want, keenly felt and imperfectly satisfied, shall ensure us a higher price: this is still the theory of scarcity. Are we farmers? We say with M. Bugeaud, Let bread be dear, that is to say, scarce, and agriculturists will thrive: always the same theory, the theory of scarcity.
Are we physicians? We cannot avoid seeing that certain physical ameliorations, improving the sanitary39 state of the country, the development of certain moral virtues40, such as moderation and temperance, the progress of knowledge tending to enable each man to take better care of his own health, the discovery of certain simple remedies of easy application, would be so many blows to our professional success. In as far as we are physicians, then, our secret wishes would be anti-social. I do not say that physicians form these secret wishes. On the contrary, I believe they would hail with joy the discovery of a universal panacea41; but they would not do this as physicians, but as men, and as Christians42. By a noble abnegation of self', the physician places himself in the consumer's point of view. But as exercising a profession, from which he derives44 his own and his family's subsistence, his desires, or, if you will, his interests, are anti-social.
Are we manufacturers of cotton stuffs? We desire to sell them at the price most profitable to ourselves. We should consent willingly to an interdict45 being laid on all rival manufactures; and if we could venture to give this wish public expression, or hope to realize it with some chance of success, we should attain46 our end, to some extent, by indirect means; for example, by excluding foreign fabrics47, in order to diminish the supply, and thus produce, forcibly and to our profit, a scarcity of clothing.
In the same way, we might pass in review all other branches of industry, and we should always find that the producers, as such, have anti-social views. "The shopkeeper," says Montaigne, "thrives only by the irregularities of youth; the farmer by the high price of corn, the architect by the destruction of houses, the officers of justice by lawsuits48 and quarrels. Ministers of religion derive43 their distinction and employment from our vices49 and our death. No physician rejoices in the health of his friends, nor soldiers in the peace of their country; and so of the rest."
Hence it follows that if the secret wishes of each producer were realized, the world would retrograde rapidly towards barbarism. The sail would supersede50 steam, the oar51 would supersede the sail, and general traffic would be carried on by the carrier's waggon52; the latter would be superseded53 by the mule54, and the mule by the pedlar. Wool would exclude cotton, cotton in its turn would exclude wool, and so on until the dearth of all things had caused man himself to disappear from the face of the earth.
Suppose for a moment that the legislative10 power and the public force were placed at the disposal of Mimeral's committee, and that each member of that association had the privilege of bringing in and sanctioning a favourite law, is it difficult to divine to what sort of industrial code the public would be subjected?
If we now proceed to consider the immediate interest of the consumer, we shall find that it is in perfect harmony with the general interest, with all that the welfare of society calls for. When the purchaser goes to market, he desires to find it well stocked. Let the seasons be propitious55 for all harvests; let inventions more and more marvellous bring within reach a greater and greater number of products and enjoyments; let time and labour be saved; let distances be effaced56 by the perfection and rapidity of transit57; let the spirit of justice and of peace allow of a diminished weight of taxation58; let barriers of every kind be removed;—in all this the interest of the consumer runs parallel with the public interest. The consumer may push his secret wishes to a chimerical59 and absurd length, without these wishes becoming antagonistic to the public welfare. He may desire that food and shelter, the hearth60 and the roof, instruction and morality, security and peace, power and health, should be obtained without exertion17, and without measure, like the dust of the highways, the water of the brook61, the air which we breathe; and yet the realization62 of his desires would not be at variance63 with the good of society.
It may be said that if these wishes were granted, the work of the producer would become more and more limited, and would end with being stopped for want of aliment. But why? Because, on this extreme supposition, all imaginable wants and desires would be fully64 satisfied. Man, like Omnipotence65, would create all things by a simple act of volition66. Well, on this hypotheses, what reason should we have to regret the stoppage of industrial production?
I made the supposition, not long ago, of the existence of an assembly composed of workmen, each member of which, in his capacity of producer, should have the power of passing a law embodying67 his secret wish, and I said that the code which would emanate68 from that assembly would be monopoly systematized, the theory of scarcity reduced to practice.
In the same way, a chamber8 in which each should consult exclusively his own immediate interest as a consumer, would tend to systematize liberty, to suppress all restrictive measures, to overthrow69 all artificial barriers—in a word, to realize the theory of plenty.
Hence it follows:
That to consult exclusively the immediate interest of the producer, is to consult an interest which is anti-social.
That to take for basis exclusively the immediate interest of the consumer, would be to take for basis the general interest.
The former desires that the subject of the bargain should be scarce, its supply limited, and its price high.
The latter desires that it should be abundant, its supply large, and its price low.
The laws, which should be at least neutral, take the part of the seller against the buyer, of the producer against the consumer, of dearness against cheapness,** of scarcity against abundance.
* The author has modified somewhat the terms of this
proposition in a posterior work.—See Harmonies
économiques, chapter xi.—Editor.
** We have not in French a substantive73 to express the idea
opposed to that of dearness (cheapness). It is somewhat
remarkable74 that the popular instinct expresses the idea by
this periphrase, marche avantageux, bon marche'. The
protectionists would do well to reform this locution, for it
implies an economic system opposed to theirs.
They proceed, if not intentionally75, at least logically, on this datum: a nation is rich when it is in want of everything.
For they say, it is the producer that we must favour by securing him a good market for his product. For this purpose it is necessary to raise the price, and in order to raise the price we must restrict the supply; and to restrict the supply is to create scarcity.
Just let us suppose that at the present moment, when all these laws are in full force, we make a complete inventory76, not in value, but in weight, measure, volume, quantity, of all the commodities existing in the country, which are fitted to satisfy the wants and tastes of its inhabitants—corn, meat, cloth, fuel, colonial products, etc.
Suppose, again, that next day all the barriers which oppose the introduction of foreign products are removed.
Lastly, suppose that in order to test the result of this reform, they proceed three months afterwards to make a new inventory.
Is it not true that there will be found in France more corn, cattle, cloth, linen77, iron, coal, sugar, etc., at the date of the second, than at the date of the first inventory?
So true is this, that our protective tariffs have no other purpose than to hinder all these things from reaching us, to restrict the supply, and prevent depreciation78 and abundance.
Now I would ask, Are the people who live under our laws better fed because there is less bread, meat, and sugar in the country? Are they better clothed, because there is less cloth and linen? Better warmed, because there is less coal? Better assisted in their labour, because there are fewer tools and less iron, copper79, and machinery?
But it may be said, If the foreigner inundates80 us with his products, he will carry away our money.
And what does it matter? Men are not fed on money. They do not clothe themselves with gold, or warm themselves with silver. What matters it whether there is more or less money in the country, if there is more bread on our sideboards, more meat in our larders81, more linen in our wardrobes, more firewood in our cellars.
Restrictive laws always land us in this dilemma:—
Either you admit that they produce scarcity, or you do not. If you admit it, you avow82 by the admission that you inflict83 on the people all the injury in your power. If you do not admit it, you deny having restricted the supply and raised prices, and consequently you deny having favoured the producer.
What you do is either hurtful or profitless, injurious or ineffectual. It never can be attended with any useful result.
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1
scarcity
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| n.缺乏，不足，萧条 | |
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disseminated
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| 散布，传播( disseminate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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inundate
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| vt.淹没，泛滥，压倒 | |
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extols
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| v.赞颂，赞扬，赞美( extol的第三人称单数 ) | |
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devoted
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| adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的 | |
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sterility
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| n.不生育，不结果，贫瘠，消毒，无菌 | |
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dearth
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| n.缺乏，粮食不足，饥谨 | |
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chamber
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| n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所 | |
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chambers
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| n.房间( chamber的名词复数 )；（议会的）议院；卧室；会议厅 | |
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legislative
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| n.立法机构，立法权；adj.立法的，有立法权的 | |
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legislatively
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| adv.立法地 | |
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tariffs
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| 关税制度； 关税( tariff的名词复数 )； 关税表； （旅馆或饭店等的）收费表； 量刑标准 | |
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justified
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| a.正当的，有理的 | |
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dreaded
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| adj.令人畏惧的；害怕的v.害怕，恐惧，担心( dread的过去式和过去分词) | |
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advantageous
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| adj.有利的；有帮助的 | |
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exertions
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| n.努力( exertion的名词复数 )；费力；（能力、权力等的）运用；行使 | |
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exertion
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| n.尽力，努力 | |
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prohibition
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| n.禁止；禁令，禁律 | |
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restriction
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| n.限制，约束 | |
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machinery
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| n.(总称)机械，机器；机构 | |
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analogous
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| adj.相似的；类似的 | |
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plentiful
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| adj.富裕的，丰富的 | |
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sophism
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| n.诡辩 | |
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applied
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| adj.应用的；v.应用，适用 | |
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specious
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| adj.似是而非的；adv.似是而非地 | |
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syllogism
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| n.演绎法，三段论法 | |
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datum
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| n.资料；数据；已知数 | |
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solitary
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| adj.孤独的，独立的，荒凉的；n.隐士 | |
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neutralize
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| v.使失效、抵消，使中和 | |
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30
accomplished
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| adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的 | |
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gratuitous
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| adj.无偿的，免费的；无缘无故的，不必要的 | |
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32
enjoyments
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| 愉快( enjoyment的名词复数 )； 令人愉快的事物； 享有； 享受 | |
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analyze
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| vt.分析，解析 (=analyse) | |
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immediate
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| adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的 | |
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succinctly
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| adv.简洁地；简洁地，简便地 | |
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unlimited
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| adj.无限的，不受控制的，无条件的 | |
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opposition
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| n.反对，敌对 | |
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antagonistic
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| adj.敌对的 | |
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39
sanitary
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| adj.卫生方面的，卫生的，清洁的，卫生的 | |
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40
virtues
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| 美德( virtue的名词复数 )； 德行； 优点； 长处 | |
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41
panacea
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| n.万灵药；治百病的灵药 | |
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42
Christians
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| n.基督教徒( Christian的名词复数 ) | |
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43
derive
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| v.取得；导出；引申；来自；源自；出自 | |
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derives
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| v.得到( derive的第三人称单数 )；（从…中）得到获得；源于；（从…中）提取 | |
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interdict
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| v.限制；禁止；n.正式禁止；禁令 | |
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attain
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| vt.达到，获得，完成 | |
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fabrics
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| 织物( fabric的名词复数 )； 布； 构造； （建筑物的）结构（如墙、地面、屋顶）：质地 | |
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lawsuits
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| n.诉讼( lawsuit的名词复数 ) | |
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vices
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| 缺陷( vice的名词复数 )； 恶习； 不道德行为； 台钳 | |
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supersede
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| v.替代；充任 | |
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oar
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| n.桨，橹，划手；v.划行 | |
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waggon
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| n.运货马车，运货车；敞篷车箱 | |
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superseded
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| [医]被代替的，废弃的 | |
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mule
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| n.骡子，杂种，执拗的人 | |
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propitious
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| adj.吉利的；顺利的 | |
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56
effaced
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| v.擦掉( efface的过去式和过去分词 )；抹去；超越；使黯然失色 | |
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transit
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| n.经过，运输；vt.穿越，旋转；vi.越过 | |
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taxation
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| n.征税，税收，税金 | |
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chimerical
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| adj.荒诞不经的，梦幻的 | |
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hearth
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| n.壁炉炉床，壁炉地面 | |
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brook
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| n.小河，溪；v.忍受，容让 | |
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realization
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| n.实现；认识到，深刻了解 | |
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variance
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| n.矛盾，不同 | |
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fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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omnipotence
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| n.全能，万能，无限威力 | |
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volition
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| n.意志；决意 | |
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embodying
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| v.表现( embody的现在分词 )；象征；包括；包含 | |
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emanate
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| v.发自，来自，出自 | |
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overthrow
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| v.推翻，打倒，颠覆；n.推翻，瓦解，颠覆 | |
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prolix
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| adj.罗嗦的；冗长的 | |
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71
radical
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| n.激进份子，原子团，根号；adj.根本的，激进的，彻底的 | |
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72
antagonism
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| n.对抗，敌对，对立 | |
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73
substantive
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| adj.表示实在的；本质的、实质性的；独立的；n.实词，实名词；独立存在的实体 | |
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74
remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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75
intentionally
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| ad.故意地，有意地 | |
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76
inventory
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| n.详细目录，存货清单 | |
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77
linen
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| n.亚麻布，亚麻线，亚麻制品；adj.亚麻布制的，亚麻的 | |
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78
depreciation
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| n.价值低落，贬值，蔑视，贬低 | |
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79
copper
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| n.铜；铜币；铜器；adj.铜(制)的；(紫)铜色的 | |
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80
inundates
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| v.淹没( inundate的第三人称单数 )；（洪水般地）涌来；充满；给予或交予（太多事物）使难以应付 | |
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81
larders
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| n.（家中的）食物贮藏室，食物橱( larder的名词复数 ) | |
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avow
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| v.承认，公开宣称 | |
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inflict
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| vt.(on)把…强加给，使遭受，使承担 | |
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